Monday, September 24, 2007

Elephant rides at fairs!


Scan000010220, originally uploaded by bucklesw1.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Buckles
This is Gene Holter's Babe.This was not really giving rides, but part of the grandstand show the "act" was too see how many people could get on the elephant. Really a comedy bit that worked quite well thank's to Gene"s commentary.
Toby Styles

Buckles said...

We day and dated the Holter Show at some Punkin Fair years ago and my favorite event was the camel race. Somehow Holter had managed to induce the Mayor, Police Chief and Fire Chief (whom everyone in the grandstand knew on a first name basis)to ride these camels.
At the signal to go, one camel took off OK but the second whirled around and went the opposite direction while the third took the Mayor over the fence and thru the infield doing that goofy buck that camels do until Hizzoner was unloaded.
During the past fifty years since I witnessed this, I surely must have laughed longer and louder at something else but nothing comes to mind and it was nothing compared to the laughter in the grandstand.
As Jim Alexander says "All in the years BL (before lawyers)".

Anonymous said...

Thoughts of Tex Getch, Larry Rooker and also Stormy and Misty

Anonymous said...

Gene Holter also raced ostriches. They would hitch them to a two wheeled sulky with no harness, you had to drive with a broom. Put the broom to the left side of their head and they turned right. The problem was stopping. Several people had to grab them without getting kicked or bitten. I saw them at a small county fair in central Illinois and they had the usual lineup of local celebrities including the town barber. They were to race from one of the grandstand to the other end where they had guys lined up the width of the track to catch them at the finish line. Well they couldn't stop the barber and he disappeared into total darkness. The crowd went wild,when he reappeared at the other end after circling the track his eyes were the size of saucers.
Mike Sorrill

Anonymous said...

I never caught any show that Gene put on, but I remember seeing his trucks go thru Beloit, WI, several times on the way or from fairs in Wis.